Close to you: Challenges of survival in the Acheloos Valley
94 views · Published 26 October 2012 · 5:38 · Indexed 12 November 2026
Channel: European Parliament · 2012 · News & Politics
The mountainous landscape in the Acheloos Valley is idyllic. Its natural beauty knows no bounds. But the beauty masks a lack of basic development. The people here have serious problems, particularly during winter. Most of them are stock farmers. The financial crisis has made the situation worse. The EP Office in Athens launched a debate and gave MEPs an opportunity to visit the area and understand its problems. Kyriakos is a shepherd supporting a family of four. His summer shed is at an altitude of 1,350m and difficult to reach. In winter, the snow forces him to move the animals to a lower ground. The crisis has made his problems worse. Beyond the cost of living, there's the extra cost of reaching the market. It's difficult to get to the market in winter. We have to spend extra money. Kyriakos has received a subsidy for organic farming but thinks it's not enough. I fought for quality, but at this point quality is not enough to ensure my survival. The shepherd accompanies us to a nearby shed where a whole family works. The father believes that farmers are partly responsible for the cuts to subsidies. Some people got them easily, facilitating a clientelist state of political parties. They controlled me even though I had livestock. They didn't control those who had no animals. If you asked them to milk an ewe, they'd grab the head, not the teats, because they wouldn't know how. They received subsidies, though. In addition to professional problems, there are problems with daily life. Kyriakos has two daughters, Danae and Athena. To go to school they have to travel 25km, often in difficult conditions. Schools here lack basic facilities like internet access. It would be better if there was a school nearby. The main problem of the Acheloos Valley is the lack of a safe road network. In winter, avalanches are frequent and the roads get closed. Few families stay to work in the villages during winter. There are very few young people here, mainly pensioners. The problem could have been solved with a tunnel giving safe access. There is a programme and a study to be incorporated in it in order to begin. A tunnel would have made things easy. And we wouldn't have had so many victims. 43 people have lost their lives here. The Acheloos River divides the area in two. To cross it in winter, you have to go around for kilometres on bad roads, losing valuable time. In summer, when the water level is low, some daredevils attempt to cross. But many get their calculations wrong, with results like this. There's also a different way of crossing the river. The residents are obliged to cross at their own risk. The mechanism is in a terrible state. It's almost completely destroyed. It's very dangerous. In the past, there were many people, around 50 people were transferred daily. The roads are dangerous at many points. This is a bridge people are forced to use when crossing the river to Epirus, a wooden bridge of unknown resistance. Many accidents have happened here. The situation would be different if there were roads. The area is ideal for winter tourism. Thomas is married to an Englishwoman, his brother to a Norwegian. They built a hotel with the help of the LEADER programme, but the bad road does not make mass tourism possible. The main issue here is access, there's no road. We can't blame anyone for the lack of roads because all of Greece has been destroyed. With the valley in the background, Thomas attends a conference organised by the municipality under the EP's auspices. The topic is rural and regional development. Europe does give money, it invests. But there is a phenomenon in Greece, the instruments for EU funding like the NSRF and the Cohesion Fund are very complicated, probably to ensure that a few people get to control the money that goes into projects. EuroparlTV video ID: d30394e8-dc3e-41e7-a4ea-a0dc017caddd
